Research on Soils of Urban Areas: Analysis of Methodological Aspects and Approaches (a Case Study of Moscow City)

This article discusses the existing methodological approaches used in Russian and foreign studies of urban soils. Methods for studying the soil cover as an object of landscape design, considering its formation and functioning, are analyzed by the example of the city of Moscow. Information on the territorial and functional organization of urban space is given. From the point of view of methodological approaches to the study of urban soils, it is proposed to specify them into two groups: uneven-aged soils with filled surface horizons from various recultivants formed according to design documents, and natural surface-transformed soils without a filled layer. The features of methodological approaches for studying each soil group are considered. It is noted that the composition of material from which urban soils are formed exerts a significant impact on their structure, properties, and functioning. The use of ground materials of different composition and properties for the formation of the upper part of urban soils, sometimes an unknown history of their functioning and use, and numerous possible violations, cause extremely high and most often unsystematic spatial and time variability of urban soils. The interest of the scientific community in the qualitative assessment of the urban environment is increasing, and, in this connection, the elaboration of methods for studying the resulting ecological functions of urban soils, using integral indicators, as well as the development of approaches, methods, and technologies for creating urban soils that meet the criteria of green environmental management, are the most promising.